The Long Haul Pioneers: A Celebration of Astran

This is the story of Astran, the company which gave new meaning to the term 'long haul' and have been undisputed leaders in overland transport to the Midde East for over 45 years.

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It all started in 1964 when two friends gave up promising medical careers to embark upon a journey which few hardened truckers would have considered. In so doing, they were solely responsible for creating the first long haul overland route, across Europe and deep into the Middle East to Kabul. The men had started the 'Middle East Run' was to become a phenomenon in the road haulage industry, an image which it still holds today. This book is about the company founded by one of those men, from its fledgling days as Asian Transport to the thriving Astran Cargo Services Ltd that it is today. In this book Ashley Coghill documents the complete history of the company to date with the focus predominantly on the early days when the men were fighting for something and revelling in the adventure. These early long haul drivers would think nothing of a 10,000 mile round trip to Iran or the Arabian Gulf and being stranded at 6,000 feet on a mountain pass with temperatures below -40 was just all in a day's work. Ashley Coghill has an immense enthusiasm for his subject and has given his research total dedication.
He has also tracked down past and present employees to gather first hand information which he has illustrated with over 300 carefully selected images. The end result is a detailed, comprehensive and fascinating account of an extraordinary company.